Wednesday, July 23, 2014

In my booth when I was the area retailer for Miss Mustard Seed
Milk Paint?

I had to give up the paint when my health started giving me fits and the fatigue was getting bad. I have since bounced back but the paint line is someone else's now.

And the little cabinet that was the bottom of the display went into my guest bathroom where it's been for the last few months.
Until, I had an idea. Out with the little cabinet and in with To Be Announced. heh heh heh

Then

Now

Then

Now. The white trim is American Paint Company Home Plate with a few drops of Sackcloth added.
The panels are Annie Sloan CoCo, Ce Ce Caldwell Old Ochre, and a light beige I mixed up with what I had on hand.

I had covered some of the old distressed areas with wax so those areas began to appear again with light sanding. Then it was Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Wax over the entire piece. I put a teeny bit of Antique Wax in corners but lightly, lightly, as I wanted a smooth, creamy look this time.

More then

And now

What I didn't know was how difficult it is to put pulls on a curved drawer. Mr. Bad did it for me last time and mentioned it, but it didn't sink in.

I spent almost an hour out in the garage digging around for pulls I thought would work only to find they weren't even close.

Then I got medieval on the last pair and started bending them and bending them until the angle of the screw matched the back of the pull. Geez. You can see how the pull is bent out on the ends.

I used a bright contact paper inside to liven up the neutral colors a bit.

Another piece that I totally love but can't keep. sigh. I asked Mr. Bad about adding on to the house so I could have more room for furniture but I don't recall his exact answer. But I got the gist of it, I think.............

Monday, July 21, 2014

Over the weekend I completed two projects while carefully averting my eyes from the third. I was ignoring a HUGE dresser that is mostly done, but I needed a break. Here's the before picture (I do have the top drawer):

Purdy, huh? It was a Craigslist find and the seller told me his job involves foreclosed houses and that in one house this dresser was the only thing left behind. Imagine that.

The trouble with a giant piece of furniture is that it is giant. Simple as that. I'm ready for it to be done long before it actually is. However, I will persevere and finish it this week. Besides, its Giantness is in the living room right now.

So, on to what DID get done.

I found this little table at the As-Is store and I was so excited! Then I got it home only to see that all the veneer had to be removed from the top. Well. Guess we're gonna go with the 'raw' look.

I found the burlap backdrop at an estate sale. I have no idea what they were for. They are enormous drawstring sacks, about 5' by 7'. Once they were filled how on earth were they moved? The mind boggles. They make terrific backdrops though.

Aside from adding the star, I just put wax on the top. The star was done with a fat Sharpie and then rubbed into the wood. Carefully.

Texture, texture!

And more texture. I layered paint over paint and wax and sanding. First I dry brushed Annie Sloan CoCo, then French Linen. I sanded a little and dry brushed a light gray I'd mixed up. Then APC Home Plate, sanding and dark wax.

For the top I used Fidders Jacobean dark wax which is amazing stuff.

It sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? It's really not. The dry brushing is random and haphazard. Sometimes I don't even wait for the previous coat to dry.

Friday, July 18, 2014

I blame the Super Moon. I mean
really, if a normal full moon can cause your meek cubicle partner to
become a werewolf and devour the citizens, then I can blame the Super
Moon for chaos.

Simple things .....

I was helping my friend Sioux move some furniture from a thrift store, then she was riding with me when I delivered a custom order table.

I
had giant furniture jammed into my car and Sioux had giant furniture
stuffed into hers. Off we went, then uh oh. Sioux realized she's made a
mistake buying both pieces.

Back we went.

Just as workers came to unload for us, my phone rang. It was the Clinical Trial coordinator from OSHU. I had to take the call.

Me to phone:What appointment?
Sioux to worker: That goes in the other car and that goes back into the store. Don't hurt the table.
Worker: I can pull that out and probably not hurt the table.
Me to worker: TAKE THE TABLE OUT FIRST!Me to phone: Sorry. What?Sioux: Daena, where do you ..... oops, never mind.Me to phone: I can't drive to Portland alone. Sioux to worker: NO! That one goes in the other car. THAT car! Over there!Me to phone:Huh? Oh. No, I haven't mailed it yet.Sioux to me: How do you want ..... oh, sorry sorry sorryWorker: I can put the table in the passenger seat.Sioux to worker: I'M GOING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT!Me to phone:On the 28th. Got it. No, really, I got it.Me, getting into car: #$!&**#@!!!........I was in my spray booth spray painting a huge bird cage before I had to run to treatment, not thinking about anything else. Until, uh oh.

I had been standing in red over-spray forever and now I had red gummy hair, red arms, red legs, really red feet and a nice mask shape on my face. Seriously, red enamel is the hardest to get off buta shower and cheap shampoo took care of most of it. I ran off to treatment with pink skin and slightly purple hair. ........My nephew brought his new family for a visit, which was totaly fun and hilarious. However, we have limited space so there were people stacked in the livingroom sleeping. Not wanting to wake the baby I would sneak through to get outside and work. Tippy-toeing through the kitchen: BAM BAM BAM BAM BAMQuiet espresso machine: GRRRRR CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! GRRRRRRR CLANK!Whispering to dog and kittens: STOP IT! GET OVER HERE NOW! C'MON, HERE KITTY KITTY KITTY!We had kitty-proofed the house but baby-proofing is a whole new level of challenge. I now have huge plants teetering in high places. We realized everything in our house is sharp. Or is aspiring to be sharp. ........I was finally called in for a much needed blood transfusion. It had been postponed and cancelled soooo many times because I have developed anti-bodies in my blood and was now unmatchable and no one wanted to be the one to approve a 'high-risk' transfusion. So, FINALLY! 8:00 a.m.and I am ready!Except, they cancelled it. I was in the chair, port accessed and it was a no-go.The nurse went to work, calling and badgering everyone. Floor doctor, pathologist, my doctor, triage nurses....I sat in my chair staring at Craigslist.Me to nurse: There's an estate sale just up the road. I could go and come back when you call me. Nurse: Give it 10 more minutesMe, ten minutes later: There are actually a couple estate sales near here. Antiques, furniture, donuts. I really should go and come back when you're ready.Nurse: It can't be long now.Me: I'll call my doctor if you want. He knows how I get about estate sales. Nurse; He's on vacationMe, one hour later: There's an estate sale here with shotguns. Nurse: Well, that alone won't help us.Me: Says they have ammo too.FOUR hours later. Someone signed off on a transfusion! Glory be!

Don't shoot! He's my donor!
Sheesh, like I need more to go wrong.........We finally went to get the bed!!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy. And we left the dog at home. And the kittens.You saw the picture, right?

Chaos, trying to unload and reload a car in 100° plus heat. We filled our hats with water and dumped them on our heads.

Then there was the incident with Sioux and the hose and Holly's husband and well, forget it.

Worth every second!!

Be still, my heart!The wonderful folks with the bed gave me the cutest table and a vanity that I have big plans for.

Here, I see two night tables and a trunk. Do you see it?

Ahhhh, simple pleasures.........
Revealed!

The REAL cause of chaos around here!

And the capper? This is the second time I wrote this post. Somehow I totally deleted it and couldn't get it back. So, after a couple days grumbling under my breath, I sat down this morning and rewrote it.

Friday, July 11, 2014

How did I come to get this wonderful bed? And kitties too?
It was just part of a recent three-day assault against common sense. This is Day Two. Out of order, but there you go.

Leaving all common sense behind.

Are
those the faces of chaos? You wouldn't think so, would you? Unless you
know what lies behind those cute faces. Mayhem. I'll go ahead and add
Panic and Pandemonium to the mix.

I signed up for it eyes wide shut.

It started out all so normal.

We were getting KITTENS! My friend Sioux came with me and we headed south.

There is such a thing as dumb logic and we proved it.

It
seemed like a really terrific idea to take Jasper with us because the
town we were going to was almost 2 hours away. He'd have 2 hours to eat get used to the kitties on the way home.

Oh yeah, that was some of our best thinking.

All the way home the dog kept trying to flip the carrier over. Sioux held it down which sent Jasper into a tizzy
and he used that energy to tear apart my window shades and chew up
everything else he could grab. Little bits of fabric and puff ball were
floating around the back of the car. Nice.

We stopped
to get food and to get a bone to distract Jasper and I had to laugh. Our
bags of groceries, hats, purses, GPS, drinks and kitten food were piled
(spilled) between us because Sioux needed all the room she could behind
the seats to maneuver the carrier. I told Sioux that it looked like
we’d driven to Arkansas and back. The long way.
The car was a wreck.

And the kittens? Slept through the entire drive.

Is it not gorgeous?

The super-nice people we got the kittens from had this bed frame out
leaning on a wall. Sioux and I saw it at the same time but she gallantly
said I could have it. Which raised the question in my mind: how do you
do a tie-breaker when junking? Sudden death?

I'd have to go back for the bed.

At home with The Jasper Barrier.

And who did Jasper see?

The Jasper Barrier didn't work. The kitties climbed over the barrier for a better look at Jasper.

Brave kitty!

Jasper and Logan sharing a meal.

Have you ever seen a dog look more perplexed?

And then ..........
The next day, after a full day of treatment I went to the gas station
and my car promptly died. Yep. Had to have a flatbed tow truck come out
and take it to my mechanic. Now, I'd had to go to treatment first thing
in the morning so I never had time to get the car cleaned out. My car
left for the mechanic with half-eaten crackers, lots of crumbs, broken
veggie chips and kitten chow strewn all over. Not to mention the scraps
of fabric. And dust.

When I picked up my car there was a half-eaten cracker on the passenger seat. Ewwww. I was embarrassed.

......................

Yesterday Sioux and I went to get the bed and stopped at every
garage sale we saw on the way, and some antique stores. By the time we
got to our destination we were worried we wouldn't be able
to fit the
bed in the car.

Places my furniture has been featured!

About Me

I am an artist and graphic designer who has fallen in love with painting furniture. This furniture passion has helped me fight a rare and aggressive cancer, for which there is no cure, and I hope I can inspire others as I continue on my journey. I live a happy, creative life on a small farm with my awesome hubby, 3-1/2 cats and 3 mini horses. Plus whatever deer, turkeys, bears, foxes, hares or coyotes that wander by.
I can be reached at bad.rabbit.vintage@gmail.com